Winnipeg Free Press - November 5/09
DESPITE the efforts of the record industry, music is still one of the top things people search for on the Internet. With Google’s recent announcement that it was rolling out new, dedicated search features for music, you have to wonder if this is just another blow to a sagging music industry, a move that will accelerate the death of the compact disc or just another technological shift in the way people find, buy and listen to music.
Powered by popular music sites Lala and iLike, along information pulled from imeem, Rhapsody and Pandora, Google’s new search features lets you discover music, even if you don’t know much information about the artist, song or album you might be looking for. Google allows you to search for music by lyrics, song titles or artists and instantly get links to streaming audio where you can preview and easily buy the track.
Fans of iTunes or Amazon’s music service will be disappointed, as search results don’t index either of these sites. However, if you thought it was simple to find and buy music on iTunes but didn’t want to be tied to an iPod/iPhone or Apple’s digital rights management restrictions, Google’s new search functionality makes finding the music you are looking for even easier.
It will be interesting to see how this impacts MP3 aggregators like elbo.ws or The Hype Machine, and if Google starts working with Apple to indexing its huge database of music.
RELEASED in 1989, the Pixies’ Doolittle is seen as a watershed moment in alternative rock history. While it may not have broken SoundScan records at the time it was released, it would go on to become the blueprint for hundreds of bands to follow. From kids banging away at instruments for the first time in their parents’ garage to groundbreaking bands like Nirvana, the Pixies made a huge impact on the shape of modern music.
“I’ve heard it said about the Velvet Underground that while not a lot of people bought their albums, everyone who did started a band. I think this is largely true about the Pixies as well,” says producer Gary Smith. “(Lead singer) Charles’ (Thompson IV, better known as Black Francis) weapon turned out to be not so secret and, sooner or later, all sorts of bands were exploiting the same strategy of wide dynamics. It became a kind of new pop formula and, within a short while, Smells Like Teen Spirit was charging up the charts and even the members of Nirvana said later that it sounded for all the world like a Pixies song.”
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doolittle’s release, the Pixies have hit the road for select dates in Europe and North America, and have been performing the album in its entirety, along with some B-sides. This bootleg was recorded Oct. 14 in Brussels.
ALTHOUGH the premier of the eighth season of Fox’s real-time action-drama 24 is still over two months away, this trailer surfaced on the web this week. In New York City at CTU’s recently resurrected offices, counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is slowly trying to rebuild a relationship with his estranged daughter and new granddaughter when he is once again pulled out of retirement in an attempt to thwart the assassination of the President of the United States. Season 8 of 24 returns to Fox/Global on Jan. 17, 2010.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 5, 2009 E3
